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I've not seen many of these tokens, other than the ones collected in the US as "colonials". Fascinating. I'm guessing that these are collected by county and/or theme? Very nice Coinsarefun.

There are many ways to collect these, especially as it is impossible to collect one of each and there are several thousand varieties (not even counting all the edge varieties). As you said, some focus on a single county, some collect only the Genuine Trade Tokens (GTTs), others focus on the political tokens of Spence or the animal tokens of Pidcock's. Not surprisingly I have a special fondness for the farthing tokens. Some are focused on collecting as broad a range of tokens, while others focus on collecting only the very best, and rarest examples.

There is such a variety of themes and designs that each collector can build the collection best suited to their interests.

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There are many ways to collect these, especially as it is impossible to collect one of each and there are several thousand varieties (not even counting all the edge varieties). As you said, some focus on a single county, some collect only the Genuine Trade Tokens (GTTs), others focus on the political tokens of Spence or the animal tokens of Pidcock's. Not surprisingly I have a special fondness for the farthing tokens. Some are focused on collecting as broad a range of tokens, while others focus on collecting only the very best, and rarest examples.

There is such a variety of themes and designs that each collector can build the collection best suited to their interests.

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Hi Mike I'm new here but I have been active with the ANA. I have posted my tokens. Conder. A complete set of P Kempson Coventry set. All 19 in MS condition. I just started a set posting other Conder tokens I put up twelve but will be adding to it . I don't believe in slabs or grades but a complete Coventry set has to be protected. It took five years of people.looking in auction houses all over England and the U.S. Hundreds of sites in the U.S. And two years to find one to complete it. Now that's with people checking shows. The big sellers all keeping there eyes out. Nothing. Finally in England found one. Maybe two. And two years for one . The auctioneer said he had not seen any in ten years . All my Conder tokens are protected there graded but I can't stop that the entire set is MS 63 to 65 Red brown and a Proof like. Can't find another set. Even have Handel reverses. So if you have time take a peek. Mike

Hi Mike here. I just posted my complete set of Kempsons complete Coventry set of 19 tokens all in MS. Some were RB brown some P.l.I'm not here to outdo anyone.it took five years and I didn't post them in competitive sets . I put the in non competitive sets. I started posting in the end of February to march. After qI posted some beautiful tokens all won at English auctions.NGC was impressed with the Coventry set they put my name on the label. I never knew of your set . I just signed up on the Registry Site when in-store the introduction and posted my st. Many believe it's the only complete constructs around. Oh forgot the Handel reverse. Then set of random tokens go from MS 63 to MS 66 with I think a couple of A/U.maybe two. I'm not here to outdo anyine. I just collect conders. Finding bb in skating but these were done by one of the master die sinkers and designers and manufactures. Peter Kempson. His work has been called art in coooer. Take a look I hope you enjoy them as I did yiurs. Thanks Mike

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Those are some gorgeous pieces. Was it intentional or coincidence that four of the five have shields on the obverse (date) side?

Just a coincidence, shields are used as a design on many of the tokens in the series - heraldic iconography is quite extensively documented in England with definitions for every part of a shield, arms, supporters, etc. For some, if there was not a recognized heraldic definition for their family a shield image was made up!

The description of the heraldic imagery on the Coventry token would be "The Arms of the City of Coventry: Per pale gules and vert, an elephant, on his back a tower triple-towered, all or. Crest: A leopard passant proper (on the token the tinctures of the elephant and the tower are shown as argent). "

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I have two very common and worn Conder tokens that have been countermarked. Both have a Roman numeral 1 to the left of the bust and a capital C to the right. I take it they were used by someone, somewhere as one cent pieces. Does anyone know more about them?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Tom Pesacreta

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I have two very common and worn Conder tokens that have been countermarked. Both have a Roman numeral 1 to the left of the bust and a capital C to the right. I take it they were used by someone, somewhere as one cent pieces. Does anyone know more about them?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Tom Pesacreta

So - did the Welsh, in 1795, predict the outcome of the Guinness Harp trade mark dispute in 1922?

The harp, which serves as the Guinness emblem, is based on a famous 14th century Irish harp known as the "O'Neill" or "Brian Boru" harp which is now preserved in the Library of Trinity College Dublin. The harp device has been synonymous with Guinness since 1862 when it was used as a symbol on the first bottle label for GUINNESS®. It was registered as a Guinness company trademark in 1876. It is because of the harp trademark that Guinness named its first lager 'Harp' in 1960.

1862 harp

current harp

The harp is one of three elements that make up the GUINNESS® livery. The other two elements are the GUINNESS® word and Arthur Guinness's famous signature. There have been a number of changes to the design of the harp device over the years including a reduction in the number of strings shown. The current harp was introduced in 2005 when a new brand livery was launched.

The harp is also the official national emblem of the Republic of Ireland and can be found on the Republic's coinage. However, there is a difference between the Irish government harp and the Guinness harp. As Guinness had trademarked the harp symbol in 1876, the Irish Free State Government of 1922, had to turn the official government harp the other way to differentiate between the trademarked Guinness harp and the official State emblem. The distinguishing feature between the two harps is that the Guinness Harp always appears with its straight edge (the sound board) to the left, and the government harp is always shown with its straight edge to the right.

Edited December 6, 2019 by Zebo

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Neither of the host tokens are listed in my reference with the I C countermark. The countermarks are likely the initials I and C as they have serifs. Also, if the countermark was to give the token a new value the countermark would have been 1 D (denarius).